Whatever may be, you’re my baby
Tony had just finished getting Peter ready for the day then he was running off into the playroom. Tony smiled as he watched Peter run down the hallway back to the playroom where Morgan was.
They had all been up for hours and it was nearing lunch time but Peter had refused to let Tony get him changed and so he didn’t push it.
He turned around and walked over to where Pepper was reading one of her health books on the couch. “I need to go shower so can you watch them?”
Tony didn’t know why he was asking, of course Pepper would watch them but he still felt like Peter was his kid and his kid only. He didn’t know why he still felt that way since even before when Peter was a teen, Pepper had loved and cared for the boy as well.
“Of course, Tony. I’ll be here.” Pepper smiled up at him so he kissed her on the head then left to go upstairs.
It was weird to be leaving Peter for the first time in three days, aside from when he would change and shower with Peter in the next room waiting for him. Although Tony knew he had to get used to it since he couldn’t have Peter cling onto him 24/7, even if he really wanted it. Probably more than Peter did.
Peter ran out of the playroom and down the hallway where Pepper was. He looked around for Tony but didn’t see him so he ran over to Pepper and started tapping on her leg. “Where’s daddy?”
“Daddy went to go shower, Peter.” She answered him but she could tell he was going to start freaking out if she didn’t do something. “I can get something for you if you need something?”
Peter grabbed between his legs. “I need to pee.”
Pepper smiled at the action and was already standing up and putting her book down. “Alright. Let’s go.”
Peter grabbed onto Pepper’s hand and the two of them walked into the bathroom. Pepper knew Peter was old enough to go by himself but she assumed that he had to remember how to go after being dusted for ten years and coming back a five year old.
“Now pull down your pants and underwear.” She instructed him but Peter shook his head.
“No. You do it.” Peter demanded and tried to walk closer to her so she could.
“You’re a big boy, Peter. You don’t need my help.” Pepper told him but Peter started jumping up and down, about to start crying.
“Then I want daddy.” Peter whined so Pepper sighed and pulled down his pants and underwear then lifted him onto the potty seat. Peter hummed happily once he got his way but Pepper couldn’t stay mad at him. “All done! Look, I did it!”
“Good job, Peter. Look at you.” Pepper encouraged him then lifted him back up onto the floor.
“Now I gotta wash my hands with soap.” Peter said but Pepper stopped him.
“You have to pull up your underwear and pants first, Pete.” She told him.
“Oh yeah. I do that.” Peter struggled to get his clothes back on and then he was climbing onto the stool to wash his hands. After he was done, he showed his hands to Pepper. “All clean. I go play now.”
Pepper watched Peter take off running back down the hall so she flushed the toilet and left the bathroom.
Peter ran back to his spot in the playroom and jumped into one of the boxes that they were using to build a fort. “Peter, you have to bring that one over here to me.”
Peter listened to Morgan, got out of the box and dragged it over to her where she was putting the other boxes together. “Like that?”
“Yeah. Do you wanna go play in my fort outside now?” Morgan asked him. She always spent time in her forts by herself so it would be fun to have someone to play with.
“Yeah! Is daddy gonna come?” Peter asked as he grabbed onto Morgan’s hand so he could hold it while he walked out with her.
“Umm, maybe later. Maybe he’s busy right now.” They walked towards the front door as Morgan called out, “Mom, I’m taking Peter outside to my fort.”
“Alright but stay where I can see you and keep an eye on him.” Pepper said to Morgan. Morgan had been playing outside by herself on her first since she was three almost four so they were used to letting her play outside by herself but not so much Peter so Pepper made a mental note to go check on the two of them soon.
“I will. Let’s go, Peter.” Morgan pulled Peter by the arm and the two of them ran outside. “My fort is over here. And I also got one over there too but this one is better.”
“Are there toys inside?” Peter asked. He let go of their hand once they got to the fort and he crawled inside.
“Yeah, I brought so many toys out here.” Morgan told him then crawled in after Peter and showed him her spinning ball.
Peter giggled as she showed him the toy and then he was reaching for more toys. “I like this one.”
Morgan sat down and crossed her legs then eyed Peter. “Were you and daddy best friends before?”
Peter continued to look at the toy as he answered. “Sometimes daddy said to me no but he’s funny anyways.”
Morgan made a face, “What? I mean before the dusting happened. I know you were older, like fifteen because mommy and daddy always said I had a big brother but you’re my baby brother now but I like that better anyways.”
Peter nodded. “Yeah. I’m five.”
Morgan sighed dramatically. “Peter. You’re not answering my question. I asked if you and daddy were best friends before?”
Peter looked up at Morgan, confused. “Before bedtime?”
“No. Never mind. You’re too little to understand.” Morgan grabbed the toy out of Peter’s hand and stood up. “Follow me. I wanna show you something cool.”
Morgan pulled Peter out of the tent and brought him over to one of the cars. It was Peppers suv that was a deep red colour. “It’s mommy’s car. Daddy bought it for her for Christmas and it came with a big black bow on the top.”
Peter ran over to the backseat door and tried to open it but he could barely reach the handle. “Up. Lift me up.”
Morgan walked over to him but went to open the front door instead. “I’m gonna climb in and pretend to drive the car.”
Peter watched Morgan climb into the front seat and start moving the steering wheel and he wanted to try as well. It wasn’t fair. “My turn. I get to try.”
“No. You’re too little.” Morgan said to him and continued to pretend to drive the car. “Go sit in the back seat.”
Peter crossed his arms over his chest and felt his bottom lip tremble. “No fair! I get my turn now.”
Morgan ignored him. She continued to pretend to drive so Peter walked to try and open the back door again but he couldn’t get the door open so he walked around the car to get in on the passenger seat side but as he was walking around the back, he found a pretty rock on the ground and bent down to look at it.
Peter squatted down and examined the blueish rock. “Pretty.”
In the front seat, Morgan grabbed onto the gear shift and then felt the car start to roll back on the small hill that they were on.
Back inside, Tony finished up with his shower and made his way downstairs. He still had to finish putting Peter’s bedroom together but he doubted the boy would be sleeping in there tonight anyways.
“Hey, Pep. Where’re the kids?” Tony paused and smiled. “Woah. That sounds weird. Did you ever think we’d be saying that?”
Pepper smiled at him. “Only dreamed it. And they’re outside. Morgan wanted to show Peter her fort.”
Tony checked the time. It was still fairly early so he could go hang out with them for a bit until lunch. “I’m gonna go see what they’re up to.”
Tony leaned over the couch to press a kiss to Pepper's forehead then he was walking to the door. He opened up the door and looked in the direction of Morgan’s fort and he didn’t see them but he didn’t think anything of it since they could be inside it.
He started walking down the deck but then he saw Morgan in the driver's seat of the car and Peter squatting down behind it while the suv was slowly rolling back towards Peter.
Tony felt his heart drop. “Peter. Peter!”
He started running as fast as he could to grab Peter before the suv ran over his small body and possibly kill him after he just got him back.
Peter turned around and stood up with the rock in his hand with a huge smile on his face, totally oblivious to the fact that the car was about to crush him. “look daddy. Pretty.”
Tony wanted to close his eyes so he wouldn’t see what was about to happen. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as the car hit him and knocked him onto the ground so Tony quickly leaned forward and grabbed Peter by his shirt so he could lift him into the air so the car didn’t run over him.
Peter immediately started crying but Tony didn’t care because crying meant alive.
Tony didn’t have time to comfort Peter since the car was still rolling back and Morgan was sitting in the driver's seat.
He grabbed Morgan by the arm that wasn’t holding onto Peter’s upper body clumsily. “Get out.”
“Ow. Dad.” Morgan tried to pull her arm away from Tony’s grip. “You’re hurting me.”
Tony didn’t say anything. He grabbed Morgan by the upper arm, probably accidentally bruising her in the process as he lifted her out of the car and placed her on the ground.
By then, Pepper had no doubt heard all the screaming and crying so she ran out there. “What’s going on?!”
Tony passed Peter to her who was still crying loudly. Tony jumped into the driver's seat and pressed the break, putting the car into park and putting the emergency break on.
Once all that was done, he sighed and put his head in his hands. His heart was beating uncontrollably so he tried to let himself calm down but Peter was still crying so he got out of the car, slammed the door and held his arms out for Peter.
Once he had Peter in his arms, he felt a little bit better but all he could think about was the fact that if he hadn’t gone outside at that exact second, then Peter would have gotten run over by the car.
“Dad, I’m-” Morgan tried to say but Tony cut her off.
“No. I don’t want to hear from you right now. Go to your room until I come talk to you.” Tony said firmly and pointed towards the house. He loved Morgan but he didn’t want to look at her at that moment.
Morgan ran away crying but Tony didn’t have it in him to care. She knew better than to get in the car.
Peter wrapped his arms tightly around Tony’s neck and tried to climb onto him tighter. He was trying to say something through his tears but Tony couldn’t understand exactly what he was saying so he just patted his back.
“Shh, you’re okay. You’re okay.” Tony carries him into the house with Pepper following behind them. “It’s almost lunchtime but I’m gonna bring him up for his nap.”
Pepper walked in front of Tony. “What happened? I just walked out in time to see you grabbing Morgan.”
“I’ll explain it to you after Peter stops crying in my ear.” Tony walked past Pepper and went into the kitchen to fill up Peter’s sippy cup with water or something to calm him down but Pepper stopped him.
“He isn’t going to eat lunch right now so I’ll pour him some milk in a bottle.” Pepper grabbed a bottle from the drawer filled with now all of Peter’s sippy cups and plastic plates and supposedly bottles.
She poured milk until the halfway point and it brought back so many memories for Tony from when Morgan was younger.
Pepper handed the bottle to Tony. “Thanks. I’ll be right back.”
Tony shifted Peter on his hip and handed him the bottle but Peter threw it on the floor. “Peter. That wasn’t nice. Do you want it or not?”
Tony bent down to pick it up and held it out for Peter. Peter looked at it for a few seconds and then grabbed it. “I wan’ it.”
With another sigh, Tony walked up the stairs and walked into his bedroom. He laid Peter on the bed and pulled off his pants and underwear in one shirt motion then grabbed a pull-up from the box. “Hold your legs out.”
Peter shook his head so Tony peeled the sides of the pull-up and lifted up Peter’s legs so he could put it in that way. Peter tried to kick him and when he missed it resulted in more crying so Tony reached over him to hand him back his bottle that had rolled away.
He finished putting the pull-up on him and then pulled him up so he was laying on a pillow. Tony laid down next to him and brushed his hair off his face, he thought about how close that car came to running him over but the whole situation really made him open his eyes.
Morgan was a child at the end of the day and the adults shouldn’t have left her in charge to watch Peter. She was fine when it was just her since she usually played all by herself but now she had a whole sibling to play with. It was no doubt causing for a disaster to happen.
Peter turned to Tony and replaced the bottle for his thumb but he held the bottle close to his chest. Tony reaches over to grab Peter’s teddy bear and give that to him.
“My bear.” Peter whispered as he grabbed the teddy bear. He then met his eyes shut so Tony stayed for a couple more minutes to make sure Peter was fully asleep before he got out of bed and went downstairs.
Pepper was already making lunch in the kitchen when Tony came down. She turned to him, “Is he sleeping?”
“Yeah.” Tony said then sat on the kitchen island stool.
“Well, what happened?” Pepper asked, somewhat scared and annoyed.
Tony sighed. He never wanted that to happen again. “I don’t know. I guess Morgan thought it would be a good idea to get into the car while Peter was behind it. All I saw was the car rolling backwards with Peter sitting right by the tire.”
Tony took a few breaths to try and calm down but he knew he wouldn’t be getting that image out of his head anytime soon. “I- if I didn’t get there at the exact second that I did… Peter would have…”
Pepper got the idea. She walked around the island to rub Tony’s arm. “It’s okay. Don’t think about that. You did get there and Peter and Morgan are both okay.”
Tony put his head down and didn’t say anything. Pepper continued. “Think of this as an eye opener for ourselves, we now know that when the kids are outside, one of us is out there with them at all times. We have two babies now. Not one.”
Tony smiled weakly.
“You know what they say,” Pepper nudged him. “Having one kid is like having one kid but having two kids is like having one hundred kids. You gotta have eyes on the back of your head.”
Tony nodded. It was definitely like that but he didn’t understand that until now. “I know. I’m gonna go talk to Morgan.”
He made his way upstairs and knocked on Morgan’s bedroom door before pushing it open. She was sitting on her bed and drawing in her notebook with tear streaks on her cheeks. She looked up at Tony and smiled weakly at him then looked back down at her drawings.
“What’re you drawing?” Tony asked as he sat down on her bed.
“Me and Peter. He’s smiling in my picture.” Morgan explained and then shut her notebook to look over at her dad. “Is Peter mad at me?”
“No, he’s not mad at you. No ones mad at you.”
“You are.”
Tony sighed. “I’m not mad, just disappointed in you.”
Morgan looked at him with a dumb look on her face. “That’s even worse, dad.”
“Alright. Well, I’m gonna talk to you about something important so I need you to really listen to me.” Tony waited for Morgan to show him that she was listening before he continued.
“You’re an older sister now and I know that’s really hard for you to get used to because it all happened so suddenly and we all thought that Peter was going to be your older brother, I know how hard that is for you and you’re being really mature about that.” Tony gave Morgan a smile then continued.
“That being said, Peter’s only five years old. He doesn’t know any better. He’s going to look up to you as his older sister and you have to set a good example for him to follow and help him.” Tony could see the wheels turning in Morgan’s head as he spoke.
“So what you did today was very very dangerous and I don’t ever want to see that again. Do you understand me?”
Morgan nodded her head. “Yes. I understand you.”
“Good. The cars are off limits as they always were. Now what happened wasn’t your fault. It was mine and mom's fault because we should have been out there to watch you guys so we’re going to fix that.” Tony used to hate talks like these because he never knew what to say or how to act but Morgan had made him an expert at them.
“Now, how about we go play quietly together until Peter wakes up?” Tony suggested, he learned earlier on to always end these talks on a positive note so Morgan didn’t pout for the rest of the day. He was going to use that with Peter when he needed to too.
“Actually, can I go look at him napping?” Morgan asked so that’s where they headed off to.
Tony opened the door quietly and then the two of them snuck into the room. He was glad that Morgan suggested this because he always loved to watch Peter sleep. Even when Peter was a teenager, Tony would sometimes go into his bedroom just to make sure Peter was okay and he would stay longer than necessary because he loved his kid.
It was his way of getting to be with Peter but also not have to do anything but sit and relax which was never a thing with the kid.
“He’s so cute.” Morgan whispered and slowly climbed onto the bed to look at Peter close up.
He was sleeping with his thumb hanging loosely in his mouth. The five year old was laying on his side with one leg bent up a bit and the blankets kicked off of him.
Morgan smiled and looked up at Tony. “He looks like a baby.”
Tony carefully sat on the bed and made sure he didn’t wake his kid up. “That’s because he is a baby, Morg.” He said. Peter would always be his little baby no matter what age he was. He went through hell trying to get his kid back so he was allowed to baby Peter and call him a baby until the end of time.
Morgan laughed then covered her mouth. He poked Peter’s pull-up that was visible since he kicked the blankets off of himself. “Can I change him after his nap?”
Tony wasn’t sure Peter would like that. Plus it wasn’t really a diaper change, just a quick wipe and underwear goes back on. “I don’t know. How about you watch me, okay?”
Morgan stuck her bottom lip out. “But I’m his big sister and I want to help.”
“How about you ask him and if he says yes then you can change him?” Tony suggested since he knew it was up to Peter at the end of the day.
“Yay.” Morgan laid down so she was spooning Peter but not touching him. Tony looked down at his two babies. He had been thinking this a lot over the last few days but he couldn’t be happier. This is what he had wanted so badly for the last ten years.
They stayed in the same position for a few more minutes until Peter started to wake up slowly. He stretched his legs out and turned on his stomach to look at Morgan. He pushed himself up a bit and when his eyes landed on Tony, he grinned and pushed his face back into the bed.
“Did you sleep good, Peter?” Morgan asked him, putting her hand to rest on his back. She then patted Peter’s butt and looked back to grin at Tony who rolled his eyes at the action.
Peter turned on his back and lifted his legs to his chest. “I wan’ I wan’ to go on the swing again.”
“It’s lunch time now, Peter. Then me and daddy are gonna finish with your bedroom.” Morgan explained to the five year old.
Peter put his legs down and lifted his shirt up to rub his belly. “I’m hungry. I didn’t even eat no lunch. Sometimes-sometimes I forget.”
Tony laughed at his kids' nonsense and got out of the bed. “You ready to get changed and head downstairs?”
Peter grinned when he looked at Tony again. He sat up and crawled over to the man. “Daddy. Up.”
Tony lifted Peter up and held him on his hip but melted when Peter laid his head on his chest. Maybe he could just hold his kid for a bit.
Morgan walked over to the pull-up box and pulled out a new pull-up. “Can I change you, Peter?”
Tony walked over to her, “He doesn’t need a new pull-up, Morg. He’s awake now.”
Peter lifted his head up and reached down. “I wear my pull-up.”
“You don’t need one right now.” Tony swung Peter over to his other hip and grabbed a pair of clean underwear.
He stood Peter up on the bed and went to go pull off his pull-up but Peter threw himself onto the bed and started giggling. “Come back here you little monkey.”
“No! I run!” Peter started crawling away from Tony on the bed so Tony grabbed him by the back of his pull-up and pulled him back towards the edge of the bed.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Tony said playfully and quickly unstrapped the pull-up from Peter while he held him down with his other hand.
He tossed the wet pull-up on the bed and grabbed the wipes off the nightstand table to make quick work of wiping Peter down while he squirmed around and laughed under him.
“Okay. All done. Can you pass me his underwear, Morg?” Tony asked but then Peter let out a whimper and sent a kick in his direction.
“No! No underwear. I wan’ my pull-up.” Peter demanded and Tony sighed. Peter didn’t need those while he was awake.
“I want to help him, daddy. Please.” Morgan grabbed onto Tony’s arm to beg him.
“No underwear! No underwear!” Peter chanted. Tony was already counting down the hours until bedtime now.
“Dad, I-”
Morgan was cut off by Pepper calling Tony from downstairs so Tony looked fine at Morgan, “Okay. Help Peter finish getting dressed and then come downstairs for lunch.”
“Yay! Okay.” Morgan cheered and watched her dad run off then she was picking up the underwear and walking towards the bed. “I’m gonna help you, Peter.”
Peter sat up and hit the air with his arm. “No! I wan’ pull-up. Pull-up pull-up!”
Morgan looked around confused. “Well… daddy said you have to wear underwear because you’re awake.”
Peter shook his head. “Daddy poo poo. He smells like poo poo!”
Morgan started laughing at that and then they were both laughing with each other. Morgan loved having someone to laugh with, especially because now she got a best friend to laugh with forever.
She put the underwear down and moved to grab a pull-up out of the box. If Peter wanted to wear one then he was allowed. “Okay, I’ll help you put it on then.”
Peter clapped his hands excitedly and waited for Morgan to help him even though he knew he could do it by himself.
Morgan opened the straps on the side like she does with her baby dolls. “You have to lay down though.”
Peter laid down on the bed and waited for Morgan to help him. “Like this? But-but daddy just better at it.”
Morgan ignored him since she was trying to concentrate because it was harder with a real baby. “You’re not listening to me.”
“I don’ know how.” Peter shrugged. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong.
Morgan grabbed one of his legs and lifted him up a bit so she could put the diaper under him and then finish doing up the side straps. “Yay. I did it. Now I have to get you dressed.”
Morgan grabbed a pair of red track pants from the laundry basket and she helped Peter put them on before they headed downstairs.
Tony got downstairs after Pepper had called him, leaving Morgan and Peter alone.
He went into the living room where Pepper was on her computer so he sat down next to her, concerned about the worried look she had on her face.
“I heard Peter wake up,” Pepper said then placed her computer on Tony’s lap. “Someone took pictures of us at the grocery store and it’s already on almost every single media outlet.”
Tony read the titles of the articles and saw the pictures that were posted. One of the titles read, Tony Stark’s dusted ‘child’ is now a toddler, and it showed a picture of Peter from when he was fifteen that the press got all those years ago. Seeing that picture hurt Tony because it held so many memories that he thought of all those years. The next picture was of Tony in the process of picking Peter up at the grocery store.
The article went on to say how Tony Stark’s supposed son, which was rumoured to be Peter ten years ago when he started hanging out with the kid in public, came back from being dusted and is now a toddler.
Tony didn’t understand why they were saying Peter was a toddler but he’d take it. He guessed it’s because no one truly knew Peter’s age back then since Tony kept it hidden from public knowledge so now Peter could be anywhere from three to seven. Not that he looked three years old or seven.
He looked at more articles with another picture of Peter sitting in the shopping cart but unlike the other picture with Peter’s head facing away from the camera, this picture had Peter looking directly at the camera so it hit his full face.
Tony mentally cursed. He never wanted his kids' life in the public. The article title read, The dusted have returned and Tony Stark’s son is back and is adorable. Tony couldn’t agree with that but he still didn’t approve of it.
“How many articles are there?” Tony asked, worried about the attention that will be on Peter.
“Couple hundred. There’s only three pictures going around though.” Pepper supplied for him. She hated this just as much as he did.
“What’s the other picture?” Tony asked, hoping it wasn’t another one of Peter’s face.
Pepper took the computer from him and searched up the other photo. She turned the computer around to show Tony, it was a picture of Tony holding Peter on his hip at the cashier while he held the box of diapers in his other hand.
That was private information that the world didn’t need to know. It was no one’s business whether his son wore diapers or not and now everybody knew.
“This is just great.” Tony said sarcastically and shut the computer.
The attention stopped being focused on him and his family a little while after Morgan was born and now that Peter was back and supposedly a toddler, all the attention was back on his family.